Cadillac Allante Forum Discussion, Allante windshield washers inop? in Past Cadillac Vehicle Discussion; For two years I've been trying to get my windshield washers working?? Have replaced all the obvious stuff and checked ...

Allante windshield washers inop?

For two years I've been trying to get my windshield washers working?? Have replaced all the obvious stuff and checked all the connections.
The headlight washers work fine, but the windshield remains dry??

Re: Allante windshield washers inop?

Originally Posted by misty145

For two years I've been trying to get my windshield washers working?? Have replaced all the obvious stuff and checked all the connections.
The headlight washers work fine, but the windshield remains dry??

Any suggestions?

Cheers... Misty

I believe the windshield washers and headlight washers are separate systems. They both have their own pumps, in the case of the headlight washers, the pump is controlled by a relay-like device. With the windshield washers, I believe the wiper motor has the control assembly which activates the pump directly.

Re: Allante windshield washers inop?

Originally Posted by misty145

For two years I've been trying to get my windshield washers working?? Have replaced all the obvious stuff and checked all the connections.
The headlight washers work fine, but the windshield remains dry??

Any suggestions?

Cheers... Misty

I had a problem with my windshield washers also. I found a kink in the hose right before the "t" to go to the individual wipers. The pump for the headlights is separate, and that worked fine. To see if this is your problem, I pulled off the hose at the outlet of the pump and ran the wipers - sure enough, wiper fluid went all over the place. I tried to blow in the hose going to the wiper blades, but couldn't. Then I traced the problem to a kink in the hose. I had to remove some of the stuff at the bottom of the windshield, but it was just a handful of screws.

Re: Allante windshield washers inop?

In the 88-90 models, the windsheld washer pump appears to be located inside the wiper motor housing, in the 91-93 models the pump is located in a recess in the washer fluid tank. I have verified this on a 88 and 91 model but never had the inclination to check others. Does the pump motor make a noise when you press the wash button? If no you have a dead pump or and electrical problem. If you hear a noise, you have a bad pump or hose problem. If you have replaced the pump (don't rull out the new pump being bad also) you are down to an electrical or plumbing problem.

Re: Allante windshield washers inop?

As stated previously the pump for the windshield is inside the wiper motor. It has one clip holding it and comes out the bottom. First thing to try is to remove pump, leave lines attached, apply power directly, and see if it squirts. If not, does it run but not squirt, or not run at all? If it doesn't run, bad pump. If it runs but doesn't squirt, there is a liquid supply problem. If it runs and squirts, then there is a control problem, either in the switch assembly or the wiper motor.